Cross-training

In this Winter of 2011, a few months after I’d started training in Yoshukai, I took a course at AKF Athens called CIT, Certified Instructor Training.  At 8^th kyu yellow belt, it felt a little early to be taking a course in martial arts instruction, but I’ve enjoyed teaching ever since finishing undergrad, and I was curious by the process.  To make a long-ish story very short, I learned as much about the process of learning martial arts as I did teaching, and from there, my martial arts training really started to take off.

An easy thing to forget at higher kyu-grade ranks is, at one point or another, we were all pretty raw when it came to martial arts.  Although I had some previous experience, I was really about as green as one could be, which is why it’s so important to remember that feeling when teaching.  It is a terrible mistake to assume that some aspect of technique or the martial arts way of life “goes without saying.”  When I started teaching voice, a mentor of mine encouraged me to always remember how I felt about five minutes before some concept was obvious.  In other words, mastery is often born out of a breakthrough from abject frustration.

So, back to CIT.  At that point, there was a fairly well-attended evening Yoshukai class at AKF.  It was extremely convenient to the ending time of most opera rehearsals, so I hit that one fairly often.  The Yoshukai class was at 6, and the CIT course was at 8.  In between, there was a 7pm Kyuki-do class, which I watched a couple times before being invited to the floor to try it out.  It was familiar to my Yoshukai training, but there were enough differences to make things very interesting.

After attending 3 or 4 of these Kyuki-do classes, I decided to start cross-training.  It was a defining decision in my martial arts career.  It opened my mind to new possibilities with my personal training, and it gave me a wider appreciation for the martial arts as a whole.   You see, I knew a good bit about different martial arts, and I’d known practitioners of various arts and seen their skill sets at work.  What I didn’t appreciate was this:  single-art training, which can be very rewarding for some, only tells part of the story.

Almost three years later, I’m now preparing myself for my first-degree blackbelt test in Kyuki-do.  My Shodan test conditioning continues its long-range benefits, and now, I’m planning on adding specific focus points relating to speed and agility, which have major applications in Kyuki-do.  In upcoming months, I’ll be keeping all of you up to date on my progress through the last 2 keup grades in Kyuki-do, as well as continuing blogging about the Yoshukai training process.

I’ll leave you with this:  I know that cross-training is not for everyone, but I would not be anywhere near operating at the level I am right now without the influence of both of these arts, along with my more tertiary study of hapkido.  From Yoshukai, I learned to generate power from the ground up, relying on a linear mode of attack which manifests itself in the grounded stancework and strikes of a true hard style.  Kyuki-do, on the other hand, has taught me a great deal about situational and mental flexibility.  Obviously, both arts have contributed to strength and physical flexibility, but each art is approached differently with regards to a broader curriculum.  Yoshukai’s curriculum, on the face of it, builds up in a very focused and deliberate way, which radiates throughout the entire process of kyu-grade training.  Kyuki-do’s core curriculum works in a very similar way, but along with that core are elements of judo, hapkido, jujutsu, kali/escrima, and many other styles which allow for broad growth in the martial arts.  I honestly do not feel as confortable with my throws as I do with kicks and punches, but I don’t think I really should at this point, given the amount of time spent on all of these techniques.  But, you know, that’s alright.  3 solid years back in the martial arts has definitely taught me that I have the time to learn the things I want to know.

More about Kyuki-do coming up soon!